night of 1000 laughs

I shot everything in about a week.  The film does a pretty good job of presenting that week so I’ll stay away from that here.

I played with editing stuff here and there and some bits worked better than others.  I started working more and more, which meant I would only have a bit of time every few months during which this was something I might or might not get to.  At some point I pretty much finished chapters 1-3 and set them aside.  A few others took shape pretty quickly but others seemed they would never manifest as anything watchable.  Whenever I pulled it out I seemed to make some small amount of progress but it never felt like it was close to done.  There were important parts of the story that simply didn’t seem to fit.

In addition to all of the work I was doing, I moved a ton over the next several years.  Over to Prospect Heights, then back to Williamsburg but over by the J train, then giving that place up and spending 10 months working in Chicago, then to Manhattan with 4 months working in LA to break that up just 9 months in.  It was a little intense.  At some point I stopped looking at this stuff.

First off, to best keep up with the film, please follow it on twitter @1000Laughs or *like* it on facebook:

Facebook.com/Nightof1000Laughs

The blog here will get the meatiest updates but they will usually happen last.

We had a fun little showing of the film in Detroit last night. Some folks came out despite a big tv night and some truly awful weather. Kathy Leisen joined tall firs and the results were truly beautiful: a mix of Tall Firs tunes with Kathy singing along, Glass Rock songs from their short-lived super group, and some Kathy solo numbers where the guys simply watched from the stage and assumed the slack-jawed & pie-eyed posture of the rest of the room. That Kathy is pretty mesmerizing.

We’ll be announcing another screening/performance very soon in a totally different part of the country so keep your ears on!

It couldn’t be stranger that this film exists. Aside from just being an odd duck, it seems to be finding its way to you via one little serendipitous nudge after another. Here’s part 1 of a serialized recap.

The story of the film:

Back in 2005 Caitlin told me what she was thinking about for her upcoming birthday.  I was already scheduled to be out of town for work.

“…but Matt, would you do it?  If you were in town?”

“Of course.  That’s going to be hilarious.  It’s killing me not to be there.,” I said, taking the opportunity to help cement the fate of others while slowly backing away.

A few weeks later I was informed that the schedule for my tv show had shifted and we would be going on the road a few weeks later than originally planned.

Uh oh.

At first, I kind of put off thinking about it.  Maybe something else would come up.  A short gig or something.

When it became clear that no new escape route was going to emerge and I was going to attend, I came to an immediate realization:  I should shoot this.  After all, the bar where this was going to go down was on my block - I could see (and hear all too clearly - especialy in the summer) the bar’s backyard from my bedroom window.  Caitlin and Dave’s apartment (where Dave had taken my old room) was across the street from the bar and about half of the other people participating lived within walking distance of me too.  So, with most of the action set to take place in my immediate neighborhood, I grabbed a camera and started visiting my friends.

part fly-on-the-wall observation doc

part performance piece

part social experiment

you’ve never seen a film quite like night of 1000 laughs

in very early 2013 this documentary will be popping up in screenings and online

keep an eye out here

and follow the film on facebook and twitter

to find out how you can see the film